Assistant Inspector General Testifies Before House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs on Mismanagement and Data Manipulation at the Philadelphia and Oakland VA Regional Offices

Linda A. Halliday, Assistant Inspector General (AIG) for Audits and Evaluations, testified before the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, United States House of Representatives, on the results of the Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) recently published reports that substantiated allegations of mismanagement and data manipulation at the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, VA Regional Office (VARO) and allegations of claims mismanagement at the Oakland, California, VARO. Ms. Halliday told the Committee that OIG identified serious issues at the Philadelphia VARO involving mismanagement, and that OIG made 35 recommendations for improvement encompassing operational activities relating to data integrity, public contact, financial stewardship, mail mismanagement, and other areas of concern. Ms. Halliday also stated that Oakland VARO staff had not processed a significant number of informal requests for benefits found in October 2012 that dated back as far as July 2002 and improperly stored formal claims. Furthermore, management’s poor recordkeeping practices precluded OIG from confirming that VARO staff processed all of the informal claims or if the initial list contained 13,184 informal claims. Ms. Halliday was accompanied by Ms. Nora Stokes, Director, OIG Bay Pines Benefits Inspection Division and Mr. Brent Arronte, Director, OIG San Diego Benefits Inspection Division.